BusTalk

[Mr. Linsky]

End of the Line for a Traveling Band


By N. C. MAISAK
Published: May 20, 2010 The New York Times

Photos by Angel Franco for the Times

As the city bus rumbled through northwest Queens one recent cloudy morning, Mary Apelian, who lives in East Elmhurst, offered the lowdown on her fellow passengers. She pointed out the young man whose wife just had twins (“He says he doesn’t get much sleep”) and the woman whose grandchild was gravely ill in the hospital a while ago (“We were all so concerned we sent him a gift certificate”). And where’s Mitch? Wasn’t she supposed to be riding today?

Welcome aboard the QM22, where everybody knows your name. Passengers are apt to announce “It’s so nice to see everybody!” as they board and to be greeted by choruses of “How-are-yous,” near-cheers, hugs and kisses. They call themselves the “Bus People,” and even have a social chairwoman: Debbie Vassiliou, a vivacious 52-year-old with a throaty voice and an infectious laugh, who sometimes arrives wearing the gold earrings the group gave her for her 50th birthday.

“We’re all like family,” said Ms. Apelian, who has been riding the QM22 for more than two decades. “Everyone has a different story, and we share it all.”

But this family will soon be sundered by budget cuts.

The QM22 — which makes two round trips daily from Jackson Heights to Midtown Manhattan, with one running on Third Avenue and one on Avenue of the Americas — will make its final runs on June 25. It is being eliminated as part of a $93 million budget slashing by the financially troubled Metropolitan Transportation Authority. The authority estimates that the QM22 costs $143,000 a year.

“These cuts are very difficult but necessary to close our budget gap,” said Deirdre Parker, a spokeswoman for the authority. “We suggest that people use the subways.”

But the Bus People are not eager to go underground. There are about 40 in the group, most of them women, middle age or older, who work in offices.

“If the QM22 goes, I’m going to have to quit my job,” said Ms. Apelian, who gave her age as “way over 65” and said she was coaxed out of retirement to work for a public relations firm. “I have a bad back and sciatica. There’s no way I can climb the stairs in the subway.”

The Queens-to-Midtown run was started in 1988 by the Triboro Coach Corporation and was absorbed by the transportation authority in 2006. Longtime riders said that the friendly atmosphere started right away because the original buses had seats with low backs, making conversation easier, and that the limited number of buses meant passengers kept seeing the same faces.

“We bonded because we all live near each other,” said Dorothy Leonard, who is in her 50s and has been commuting on the QM22 since 1992.

When Ms. Leonard got a puppy, a mixed-breed named Tyler, five years ago, she also got a card and chew toys from her bus friends.

The Bus People used to play the lottery together — their biggest win was $81 about a decade ago on regular Lotto — and they give one another birthday parties and baby and bridal showers. There is an annual Christmas party in an Astoria restaurant. In early April, some members gathered at a bowling alley to see an Elvis impersonator, and once or twice a year they take a trip to Atlantic City — in a rented bus, naturally.

When the previous social chairwoman, Mitch Caglioti, stepped down in 2008, the Bus People gave her a dinner party to end all dinner parties, she said. They gave her a diamond cross necklace and a $100 American Express gift card. “Even when people leave, we all keep in touch,” Ms. Caglioti said.

Laraine Amendola, who stopped riding the QM22 regularly when she took a job in Astoria four years ago, still thinks of herself as part of the group. “We all go out to shows and to movies,” she said. “When I get on the bus now, everybody starts screaming.”

Ms. Amendola does her share of screaming. She was on the bus this cloudy morning, and as it rolled past a fast-food place, she yelled: “Breakfast! Hey, let’s all do the drive-through at Mickey D’s.”

Drivers are included in the festivities. Tommy Shortes, who has been driving city buses for 28 years, said the QM22 was his favorite. “I have enough seniority to pick this route every time, and I will pick it until the day I retire,” Mr. Shortes said.

But the Bus People now find themselves getting ready to observe the biggest event in the QM22’s history — its demise. They are planning on dinner at an Astoria restaurant, but, perhaps hoping against hope that there might somehow be a reprieve, they have not had the heart to set further details.

Lissette Rodriguez, a faithful rider for seven years, has been researching alternative travel options for the group, including carpooling and hiring a special shuttle. And Ms. Vassiliou, the current social chairwoman, is keeping in touch with everyone by e-mail, so that when the QM22 is only a memory, “the friendships we’ve made will never be lost,” she said.

On this morning, as the bus pulled up to its second-to-last stop, at 34th Street and Third Avenue, Ms. Amendola called after one of the women: “Bye, honey, take care. Have a good day!”

In less than a minute, the Bus People had all gone their separate ways.

Mr. Linsky - Green Bus Lines, Inc., Jamaica, New York


BUS PEOPLE From left, Mary Apelian, Laraine Amendola and Debbie Vassiliou riding the QM22. “We’re all like family,” Ms. Apelian said.

A FAMILIAR ROUTE Debbie Vassiliou, left, waiting to board in Astoria.

Tommy Shortes, the bus driver, said he would choose to drive the QM22 “until the day I retire.”